New art centre picture-perfect with the public

The new Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square has become one of the world's most popular galleries, according to National Gallery of Victoria director Gerard Vaughan.

Open for less than three months, it has already had more than 750,000 visitors. Plans are in hand to welcome the millionth.

"It has to be one of the most visited art museums in the world just now," Dr Vaughan said. "We can't compete with the world's top group of super galleries, which also includes New York's Metropolitan and the Uffizi in Florence, but we are right up there compared to anywhere else."

He said the Pompidou Centre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris receive up to 4000 visitors a day - the Ian Potter Centre was getting about 8000. It is now expected to become Australia's most popular gallery, with the number of visitors more than double what was expected. The upper estimate had been 100,000 people a month, but the gallery is getting 250,000.

Dr Vaughan is predicting 1.5 million visitors a year. "The novelty factor has to be considered and the building itself in Federation Square is part of the attraction," he said.");document.write("

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The Art Gallery of NSW gets about 1.2 million visitors a year, while the Australian War Memorial receives a million. The Centre for the Moving Image, next door to the Ian Potter Centre, has had 554,000 visits in just over three months.

Dr Vaughan said he was receiving overseas inquiries about Melbourne's "very remarkable building". "I cannot believe the building is so perfectly tuned to our collection," he said. He said members of the public who had at first hated the building's exterior now discovered they loved the interior.

Peter Davidson of LAB architecture studio, the Federation Square designers, said plans were being made to ease the congestion caused by the number of visitors.

Dr Vaughan is seeking sponsorship to allow the Ian Potter Centre to remain open until 11pm on Thursdays and Fridays to reproduce the success of the schedule on opening week. There were 4000 visitors on the first night, and 6000 on the third.

He said the November crowds surged after 8.30pm, which indicated they preferred to have dinner before attending the gallery.

"People seem to love the idea but the costs are quite high which is why we're having talks with potential sponsors," he said.